Letter to the editor: Save Affordable Care Act because it benefits us all

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I am speaking from my heart. I am terrified about the push to repeal the Affordable Care Act (i.e., Obamacare) without an equivalent program to replace it!

My son has a rare autoimmune disorder, Addison’s disease, diagnosed while he was working for an employer that provided health insurance. When he left that employer to start his own small business, he was unable to obtain health insurance because of his pre-existing condition, and the high-risk pool was unavailable to him. Addison’s has affected his overall health and only thanks to the Affordable Care Act has he been able to obtain health insurance, and thus affordable health care.

The vast majority of people in America get their affordable health insurance through their employers, and are not aware of the benefits they have received as a direct result of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare):

• Insurance companies cannot cancel a policy because someone gets sick, with cancer, heart disease or any number of rare diseases.

• Insurance companies cannot place “lifetime limits” on a person/policy.

• Insurance companies cannot turn down a person because of a pre-existing condition.

• Wellness check-ups, such as annual physicals, mammograms, etc., are no cost to the insured.

• Children can stay on their parents’ health insurance policy until they turn 26.

• Women have free access to birth control.

• Insurance companies cannot charge women more for their insurance just because they are women.

So everyone benefits from Obamacare, not just those individuals who purchase insurance through the Obamacare exchanges, such as independent contractors or people who work for very small companies that do not provide health insurance. Please don’t stand by and let Congress rip health care away from my son, from millions of others like my son. Stand up for the benefits you get as a result of this law.

Mary Merrill

York

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